James Brown's autobiography...(to great disinterest...?)

[I I mjrn]

I Feel G[New American Library/Penguin/2005]

 

First let's all give JB a huge round of applause for altering pop music as much as anyone in the 2nd half of the 20th C.

We didn't need the book to know that, did we?

 

[Waits for tumult to subside...continues waiting...continues...]

 

Let's also give him somewhat stunned acknowledgement at actually understanding all along what he was up to in a deeper social sense than anyone may've thought. George Clinton's not the only deep thinker!

 

His comments on Elvis, Alan Freed, USA social structure & much more are quite astute for someone busy all his life mostly staying alive.

(He gets a bit buggy, though, when dealing with his crackhead period).

 

The best sentence in the book:

 

"I'm glad to see you." The words hung in the air like bad cooking.

 

The worst sentence in the book:

The one where he lists the bandmembers on his USO tour of VietNam, naming only three including a drummer named Clyde Shubb (can this be anyone but Clyde Stubblefield?).

It's bad enough that mistake occurs but its enormity is compounded by the fact that thorughout the book---other than a few words of respect for Robert Byrd (original leader of the band that became the Famous Flames) & Willie John--- he's completely silent on any other musicians, many of whom (like Fred Wesley) actively wrote much of the music.

[I I mjrn]

Uh..hello...'sthis on...?...

[boosh]

Is there anything in the book about Sweet Charles Sherell???

[hard truth]

I read the earlier version of his autobiography that was written before his more recent legal problems. In that version he did mention many of his players, but they arguably did not the credit they deserve. Modesty is not one of JB's greatest virtues.

 

A couple of things I remember:

1. Near the beginning of the book he said "whenever I get in trouble a car is involved." This proved prophetic of his bust that happened a couple of years after the book came out.

 

2. He claimed to have been left alone in the woods a lot during his childhood. That explains a lot-the guy was feral!

[I I mjrn]

Originally posted by boosh:

Is there anything in the book about Sweet Charles Sherell???

My notes indicate that only the 4 band members above are actually named---& apparently one, a fellow known as The funky drummer, Clyde Stubblefield, is mis-named!

 

Hard T, is that an earlier autobio or a bio?

[boosh]

Okay,....too bad.

Sweet Charles was JB's bassplayer,.. he now lives in my dutch Hometown and plays in one of my friends funk/hiphop band called Gotcha I've met him a few times... He's a cool dude.

[I I mjrn]

Yeah, as we've been learning through a series of BPlayer articles (as well as factology established by others), there've been many fine players in the various JB bands. Some have even been instrumental in the construction of songs & records. That's why the general exclusion (& the wird esception) are so odd!

Not even a mention of "Maceo!"

[boosh]

It's all about Ego....

 

Everyone here in the Netherlands knows who Elvis is ,...but If you say Leiber/Stoller ,...or name his bandmembers,..they don't have a clue who you're talking about.

[dahkter]

I got to see Clyde Stubblefield out in Madison, WI, he was living out there and playing in different bands, this was in the early 90s.

There would have been no Public Enemy without Clyde, I think PE is the embodiment of nailing down that Funky Drummer beat (although everyone and their mother used it)....

[lrossmusic]

Originally posted by I & I mjrn:

--- he's completely silent on any other musicians, many of whom (like Fred Wesley) actively wrote much of the music.

Check out Fred Wesley's book "Hit Me Fred" if you want to read some wild funny sh*@ about what it was like in the Brown organization.

 

Some of the stories are hilarious and scary at once like the time Wesley says Brown got into an argument with the pilot of his private plane while they were in flight and pulled out his pistol.

 

Wesley states that he thought he was going to have to knock out his boss or somehow tackle him to the cabin floor. There are a lot more sories like that one...I couldn't put the book down for a while.